Tough Point to Defend

During the week, we talked about many documents that dealt with how unfair America can be towards minorities and groups of people like Native Americans. Many of the people that were being discriminated against attacked documents like the Declaration of Independence. While I see their point of view, I believe that the anger directed at the declaration of independence is not at the right target. Though The Declaration of Independence says "All men are created with certain unalienable rights", not giving any specific equality to women or minorities, it is not meant to limit freedom. The Declaration of Independence's purpose was to create a new precedent of Independence from the state, which it did accomplish. At that time in world history, many of the ideas of freedom had never been seen before, much less put into practice. When it was made, the Declaration of Independence was a huge step in the direction of freedom and equality. Though some of the groups being oppressed by America blamed the declaration for their troubles, the problems lie in deep rooted biases that have been around much longer than the declaration. I strongly believe that the Declaration of Independence only helped bring equality and freedom to a very biased and bigoted world. The first sentence of "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" does a very good job at explaining the way the Declaration of Independence is not meant to be a limiting document. "The signers of the Declaration of Independece were brave men. They were great men, too great enough to give frame to a great age" (Douglass).